Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga-Zimpapers Sports Hub
SEASONED athletics coach Phakamile Lisimati says they are ready for the Southern Region Senior Championships which takes off at the University of Zimbabwe track and field this morning.
The two-day meet ends tomorrow and is set to feature athletes from Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho, Seychelles, Namibia, Angola, Eswatini, Mauritius, Zambia, Mozambique and hosts Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe are fielding 60 athletes made up of seasoned seniors and upcoming juniors.
They will field athletes in all track and field events on offer and one of their coaches Lisimati is upbeat about the hosts’ chances.
“We will be fielding athletes in all events that are on offer on the day. That is from 100m up to 10 000m on the track. All the jumping events and the throwing events.
“We have been working hard, preparing and sharpening our athletes.
“Our team is ready. I am actually eager to hit the track. My team is eager to hit the track running. The motivation is very high.
“The team is in a jovial mood. I have no injury cases that I can report or talk about but I want to appreciate the motivation, the zeal to represent the country, the patriotism that is being displayed by my athletes and my colleagues, the coaches that I am working with here. We are actually very excited, we are happy,” said Lisimati.
Senior athletes who include Team Zimbabwe captain Gerren Muwishi, Ngoni Makusha, Wellington Varevi and Tendai Zimuto will be joined by junior athletes such as sprinters Trey Chimunya, Methembe Tshuma, Takunda Mutizwa and Kimberly Kachambwa, who returned earlier in the week from Nigeria where they featured in the Confederation of African Athletics Under-18/Under-20 Championships.
Mutizwa was a gold medallist at the meet and will be hoping to carry the momentum into the senior championships.
“Some of our athletes are young athletes. We have a very young girl, 13 years old, Grade 7, Beyonce Arubiana and she will be participating in the 400m event.
“We are grooming, we are developing. Majority of our athletes are juniors and we are saying these are our main top athletes that represented different provinces at the provincial championships, which is our national championship.
“And they did well, hence the call-up in the team and representing Zimbabwe at this stage. We have the likes of Trey in the team, Trey will be participating in the 100m relay, 100m flat race amongst Ngoni Makusha and Methembe Tshuma,” said Lisimati.
The National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe director of coaching, talent identification and development is confident the team will deliver.
“We want to do our best come Saturday and Sunday. We are aiming to win the championship first. We are targeting to have our teams qualify for the World Relays that will be in Botswana next year.
“We are targeting that our athletes qualify for the major world championships and major world competitions that are coming up or lined up next year.
“This is an international event, it is a qualifying event and it’s a standard recognised CAA event, which is going to be here at home.
“We are going to fight. Our athletes are going to fight, they have promised that, they have shown that in training.”
Kachambwa is up for discus competition and she said; “Technically I am prepared but now I don’t know what’s in store for me because these are senior championships and I am an Under-20.
“I just hope for the best, I throw to the best of my ability and maybe get a PB as well and work towards my goal to go to the (World) Junior Championships.”
